Mia is an appealingly unfussy multicultural name that has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the charts and is now firmly among the ten most popular girls' names. Mia, which originated as a short form of Maria, has surpassed its mother names as the Number 1 girls' name starting with M.

Mia's success is largely attributable to Mia Farrow--born Maria. Her name entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 1964, the very year that Farrow gained wide attention for her role on the nighttime soap Peyton Place.

We see Mia as the daughter of Nina, or maybe Maya, and the granddaughter of Mary: a name that has something for nearly everyone. It works for the parent who wants a name that is simple and modern, and for those who seek a name with genuine depth given that it springs from Maria. Mia sidesteps all the curlicues and ruffles attached to names like Isabella and Olivia, yet it's distinctly feminine.

And in some ways, Mia doesn't feel as trendy as its popularity standing might indicate. It's a likable yet not really stand-out, a compromise choice for a lot of parents. Alternatives include a wide range of rhyming names that are less popular: Leah, Tea, Thea, Gia, Nia, Pia.

Kate Winslet is the mother of Mia Honey, and Ian Ziering is dad to Mia Loren.

Famous People Named Mia

Pop Culture References for the name Mia

Amelia "Mia" Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, main character in "The Princess Diaries"
Mia Toretto, in the "Fast and Furious" movie series
MiaJones, character on "Degrassi: The New Generation"
MiaWallace, in the movie "Pulp Fiction"
Mia McCormick, character on the soap "Days of Our Lives"
Mia St. Clair, from the American Girl doll collection
Mia Catalano, character from "One Tree Hill"
Mia Dearden, DC comic character
Mia Rizzo, character on the US show "Vegas"
Mia, slang for bulimia nervosa
MiaFey, character in the "Ace Attorney" video game series
MiaLewis, from "Californication"
Mia Form, character from "The Conjuring" series
MiaHall, from the book "If I Stay" by Gale Forman
Mia, from "Vampire Academy" by RichelleMead"Mamma Mia" musical
Mia Colucci, character in Mexican Soap Opera "Rebelde"
Mia Winchell, protagonist of Wendy Mass's novel "A Mango-Shaped Space"
MiaGrey, ChristianGrey's little sister in "50 Shades of Grey"
Mia Buhalmet, character in "FranBow"
Mia, character in Evil Dead (2013)
MiaDennet (also goes by Chloe), protagonist of Mary Kubica's novel "The Good Girl"
Mia, lead character in 2016's "La La Land"
MiaWinters, the main female protagonist in the video game "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard"
Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi, character from DC's Gotham Academy
Mia, a LEGO Friends character

Pop Culture References for the name Mia

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Mia in the Forums

Comments

Rainbow glitter Says:

Before, the name Mia was decent for me. But i have met a girl called 'Mia' and she's the rudest,meanest girl ever. The meaning of the name,as well, isn't exactly beautiful...but it seriously suits the Mia i know, as she's really bitter too. I would prefer this name as a nickname to Amelia or something. But on it's own, it's just too short. I don't know why this name is so popular PLEASE NOTE: No offence to anyone called Mia, this is just my opinion on the name, i know that there's a lot of people that love this name,no offence to them.

Mia Wan Says:

When I was born (20 years ago), this name wasn't that popular. It was common enough that people knew it was a name, yet not common enough that there weren't any duplicates in classrooms (I've never had a duplicate through my entire first twelve years of education). But now, it seems that every kid and their cats are all named Mia. Like seriously, if you go to a kindergarten and call the name Mia, like 5 kids will probably answer. It's a shame, because I used to love my name for being common yet unique at the same time, and now it's just common.

sunshinexoxo Says:

Mia7delaney Says:

paulapuddephatt Says:

I see more girls called Mia online. I can't remember meeting any, 1 Amelia, not a single Ava, but Emma, Olivia, Isabella - those are names I hear. I said to someone on here that I really don't know anyone called Erica. I believe they exist, because I see them online...!!! It's hard to justify moaning that names are overused, when I don't meet people with them...!!! 😃